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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:06:52 GMT -5
10. "Cowboy Christmas" - Terri Clark ft. Ricky Skaggs
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:12:39 GMT -5
Once again, castleoblivion26 is getting what he wants! I wasn't kidding when I said that Terri Clark deserves to be in the top 10 with everything she touches though... She is literally one of the most consistent artists to ever grace the country music industry. That being said, "Cowboy Christmas" has a certain campiness to it that I understand might make it a little polarizing. Honestly, I had a lot of trouble picking which song to use from her Christmas album, as the entire thing is solid, but for some reason it all just feels so unnecessary. She's not an artist for whom I've ever been like "Oh yeah, she needs a Christmas album!" She really doesn't add anything to the country Christmas landscape. So I just went with the one original song on the album for the sake of variety :) But I would still recommend checking out her album sometime! The biggest appeal is that you can really tell how much care went into crafting the instrumental arrangements. It's a beautifully done album, even if it ends up feeling unnecessary :)
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:15:21 GMT -5
9. "Let There Be Peace" - Carrie Underwood
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:21:27 GMT -5
So "Hallelujah" was a pretty obvious contribution from Carrie, but I wanted to choose a second song from the major album releases, and I had the hardest time choosing for her! "O Holy Night" would have been a good one, but I didn't want to have any duplicate songs. I ended up going with "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" because it's a song that is not covered very often and she absolutely SLEIGHS it. JJWAT was literally in this list even as I typed it up....and then right before I clicked "send" I had a change of heart and switched it to "Let There Be Peace". This is the only song on the album with any attempt at having a pulse, and it was also used as a pre-release hype single, so I thought it would fit the bill really well even though I vastly prefer "Joyful" Of course then "Favorite Time Of Year" showed up as an Amazon exlusive single right after I created this playlist, and it would have been a pretty obvious song to include. It's sooooo catchy and great!! Oh well, she should have just put it on the damn album to begin with!
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Post by tim on Dec 30, 2020 19:25:03 GMT -5
I too never had thought of Terri Clark as someone who I ever thought was needing to put out a Christmas album, but I was pleasantly surprised by “Cowboy Christmas”. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first, but it was a handful of songs that I kept wanting to come back around to revisit. I didn’t get a chance to check out the album this holiday season, but I do plan on doing so come next year!
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Post by kamala 2024 truther on Dec 30, 2020 19:27:00 GMT -5
So "Hallelujah" was a pretty obvious contribution from Carrie, but I wanted to choose a second song from the major album releases, and I had the hardest time choosing for her! "O Holy Night" would have been a good one, but I didn't want to have any duplicate songs. I ended up going with "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" because it's a song that is not covered very often and she absolutely SLEIGHS it. JJWAT was literally in this list even as I typed it up....and then right before I clicked "send" I had a change of heart and switched it to "Let There Be Peace". This is the only song on the album with any attempt at having a pulse, and it was also used as a pre-release hype single, so I thought it would fit the bill really well even though I vastly prefer "Joyful" Of course then "Favorite Time Of Year" showed up as an Amazon exlusive single right after I created this playlist, and it would have been a pretty obvious song to include. It's sooooo catchy and great!! Oh well, she should have just put it on the damn album to begin with!But it literally makes no sense on the album. I feel like she had that somber tone on the album for a reason--to perfectly capture the mood of 2020 and offer just this great moment of peace and calm and escape from this ridiculous mess of a year. Anyways, LTBP was a song I expected to go sooner or later--I figured the "cheesiness" of some of the lyrics might detract some. Glad to see it in the Top 10 tho--and it's nice to have a perfect ranking!
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:29:50 GMT -5
So "Hallelujah" was a pretty obvious contribution from Carrie, but I wanted to choose a second song from the major album releases, and I had the hardest time choosing for her! "O Holy Night" would have been a good one, but I didn't want to have any duplicate songs. I ended up going with "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" because it's a song that is not covered very often and she absolutely SLEIGHS it. JJWAT was literally in this list even as I typed it up....and then right before I clicked "send" I had a change of heart and switched it to "Let There Be Peace". This is the only song on the album with any attempt at having a pulse, and it was also used as a pre-release hype single, so I thought it would fit the bill really well even though I vastly prefer "Joyful" Of course then "Favorite Time Of Year" showed up as an Amazon exlusive single right after I created this playlist, and it would have been a pretty obvious song to include. It's sooooo catchy and great!! Oh well, she should have just put it on the damn album to begin with!But it literally makes no sense on the album. I feel like she had that somber tone on the album for a reason--to perfectly capture the mood of 2020 and offer just this great moment of peace and calm and escape from this ridiculous mess of a year. Anyways, LTBP was a song I expected to go sooner or later--I figured the "cheesiness" of some of the lyrics might detract some. Glad to see it in the Top 10 tho--and it's nice to have a perfect ranking! Well then she should have held onto it to release as a standalone song next year. It's sooooo odd having a whole entire album come out, followed by a standalone single like 2 months later 😂 Doing it this way kinda dilutes the somber purpose of the album anyway because due to proximity it's always going to be associated with the album in our minds anyway.
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Post by tim on Dec 30, 2020 19:32:37 GMT -5
So "Hallelujah" was a pretty obvious contribution from Carrie, but I wanted to choose a second song from the major album releases, and I had the hardest time choosing for her! "O Holy Night" would have been a good one, but I didn't want to have any duplicate songs. I ended up going with "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" because it's a song that is not covered very often and she absolutely SLEIGHS it. JJWAT was literally in this list even as I typed it up....and then right before I clicked "send" I had a change of heart and switched it to "Let There Be Peace". This is the only song on the album with any attempt at having a pulse, and it was also used as a pre-release hype single, so I thought it would fit the bill really well even though I vastly prefer "Joyful" Of course then "Favorite Time Of Year" showed up as an Amazon exlusive single right after I created this playlist, and it would have been a pretty obvious song to include. It's sooooo catchy and great!! Oh well, she should have just put it on the damn album to begin with! But it literally makes no sense on the album. I feel like she had that somber tone on the album for a reason--to perfectly capture the mood of 2020 and offer just this great moment of peace and calm and escape from this ridiculous mess of a year. I actually kind of agree with this. I too wish it had been included on the album, but as I looked back on where they might've placed it I really couldn't envision it on the album myself. About the only spot I could see them putting it is between track #8 "Mary, Did You Know" and track #9 "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". George more or less did the same thing with "Christmas Cookies" back when he released his second Christmas album in 1999. That said, I agree that it was a bit odd how fast a standalone song came out after the initial albums release.
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:39:23 GMT -5
8. "The First Noel" - Gabby Barrett
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:42:27 GMT -5
Gabby Barrett's beautiful take on one of the prettiest classics bows out next. Overall we seemed to like this one a lot. This song is our least polarizing song due to the fact that it did not receive a single bottom 5 rank, and only one top 5 rank.
I will definitely keep revisiting this one in years to come! She does a great job with it. It's a hard song to sing, and she definitely rivals Carrie Underwood in terms of having the right vocal abilities to make a song like this a true force.
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:44:28 GMT -5
The next song to leave is unfortunately going to be a bit of a shock... :( It'll be our first multi-#1 loss!!!
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Post by kamala 2024 truther on Dec 30, 2020 19:45:41 GMT -5
Gabby did great with "The First Noel," but I'm definitely partial to Carrie's version as hers is just beautiful, particularly at the end.
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:46:38 GMT -5
7. "We Need Christmas" - Maddie & Tae
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Dec 30, 2020 19:46:44 GMT -5
The next song to leave is unfortunately going to be a bit of a shock... :( It'll be our first multi-#1 loss!!! It better not be my #1 cause I might just have to block anyone who tanked it if it is! EDIT: of course you post it as I'm typing this lol. Maddie and Tae should have been Top 5 minimum, definitely disappointed to see this one out already as well though I am glad it wasn't my #1 tbh
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Post by kamala 2024 truther on Dec 30, 2020 19:48:02 GMT -5
"We Need Christmas" hit everything about Christmas 2020 on the head. It was an easy #1 for me. What it's doing outside of the Top 5 is beyond me!! </3
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Post by tim on Dec 30, 2020 19:50:48 GMT -5
Gabby's "The First Noel" was a great discovery and another one of my favorites from this year. I initially had this closer to my top 5, but as I continued to make edits it fell back a few spots. I'll definitely be revisiting this one myself come next year!
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:51:44 GMT -5
I was very sad to see "We Need Christmas" not be a top 5 contender here. This song is just beautiful :( Maddie & Tae really have a great partnership going on. They are easily my #1 favorite newer act This song is like the perfect song for 2020. The sentiment of needing the joy and peace of the Christmas season hits particularly hard after the year we've had... However, despite missing the top 5, this song did not have anyone outright tank it. It didn't receive a single bottom 5 rank. That speaks to the strength of everything that is left moreso than it does any weaknesses with this song itself!
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:56:09 GMT -5
6. "Under The Mistletoe" - Kelly Clarkson ft. Brett Eldredge
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 19:59:54 GMT -5
As much as I love Kelly Clarkson, and as great of a Christmas artist as she has historically been, "Under The Mistletoe" is just there for me. This kinda bores me, tbh. (It's also not country at all, tbh). And I am clearly not the only one, as both .indulgecountry and kamala 2024 truther put it lower than I did. However, it also received a wall of top 2 ranks from nearly half of us, including a #1 for HeyHeyHey. Considering all that, it easily ended up being one of our most polarizing songs. I was happy to see it just miss out on the top 5, as everything that is left is way better imo.
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 20:01:39 GMT -5
Here's the top 5!!!
Christmas Always Finds Me - Ingrid Andress Christmas On The Radio - Runaway June Christmas On The Square - Dolly Parton Circle Of Love - Dolly Parton Hallelujah - Carrie Underwood ft. John Legend
How do we think this is gonna play out??!
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Post by kamala 2024 truther on Dec 30, 2020 20:02:39 GMT -5
I am so glad Kelly x Brett are finally out. I love Kelly but man was this bad. She knows she's capable of much better, especially with Christmas music. I was quite shocked at how bad this was to be frank. Massively overstayed.
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 20:07:20 GMT -5
5. "Hallelujah" - Carrie Underwood ft. John Legend
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Post by kamala 2024 truther on Dec 30, 2020 20:12:34 GMT -5
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 20:14:18 GMT -5
You can tell already that "Hallelujah" will go down in history as one of Carrie's most iconic contributions to the Christmas canon. It's got such a beautiful melody, and Carrie sounds absolutely mesmerizing. It did take me awhile to get into because John Legend has the ugliest falsetto I have ever heard But now that I am used to it, I can fully appreciate and enjoy this song. I was a little shocked to see it only be #5, but then again Carrie is one of those artists who seems to generate strong opinions in both directions simply because she is such a big name.
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 20:18:11 GMT -5
4. "Christmas On The Radio" - Runaway June
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 20:24:14 GMT -5
Runaway June's new EP is absolutely FANTASTIC!!! I nearly was forced to pick two songs from them even though they only put out a 5-song EP Like I mentioned previously I was set to include both this one and "O Holy Night", but decided to include Danielle's version instead to promote artistic diversity. I could have easily chosen any of the other songs too, but I restrained myself. "Christmas On The Radio" sounds like such an iconic classic already! The shoop doop dooby doops are catchy as hell, and Naomi's lead vocals never fail to be warm and welcoming enough to evoke feelings of nostalgia. This is the first song loss thus far to be a consistent top 5 contender for the majority of the rankdown. It was never on pace to do much better than it finished though. I would highly recommend you check out their Christmas EP if you get a chance!!!
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Post by bboat11 on Dec 30, 2020 20:30:05 GMT -5
3. "Christmas Always Finds Me" - Ingrid Andress
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Dec 30, 2020 20:31:05 GMT -5
I loved "Christmas On The Radio" a lot and it grew on me a lot with each listen. Happy it is in the Top 4!
Now can we see Dolly be #3 & #2 so Ingrid can rightfully be #1. Love all 3 but that song from Ingrid is incredible!
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Dec 30, 2020 20:32:23 GMT -5
I'm not even editing my last post here. bboat11 WHAT even is that rank?!?!?! Like this is flops level of flopping!
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Post by kamala 2024 truther on Dec 30, 2020 20:32:34 GMT -5
I loved "Christmas On The Radio" a lot and it grew on me a lot with each listen. Happy it is in the Top 4! Now can we see Dolly be #3 & #2 so Ingrid can rightfully be #1. Love all 3 but that song from Ingrid is incredible! Another instance of the two of you posting at the same time!! 😂
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